Chelsea Market

Spend a couple of hours in Chelsea Market, one of the best places to visit in NYC, if you are a foodie. I know it is touristy but still, there's lots to see and eat. There are artisan breads, cakes, a large seafood market where you can eat the seafood that you've bought, cafes and restaurants (click here for the list). The market isn't the traditional open air market but is really in the ground and 1st floor of an old building situated at 15th Street and 9th Avenue. If I had to choose between Eataly or Chelsea Market, I'd chose Chelsea Market. Apparently this is the same building where Oreo cookies were first produced, and many media and broadcasting offices including smaller offices of Google are also in the building.


The first place to capture your eye, heart and stomach would be Eleni's. We spent 1/2 hour there checking out the cupcakes and cookies, especially the cookies. Unfortunately we had just eaten some cakes on the way there and weren't tempted to stuff our faces even though the cookies looked absolutely crazily beautiful.














We walked out of Eleni's and found that their neighbor, and the next neighbor, were all cake and bread shops.






Chelsea Market is similar to the Ferry Terminal in San Francisco, only there's more to see in Chelsea Market.


The supermarket was stocked to the ceiling and we picked up some mozzarella, white asparagus and nuts thinking we could picnic somewhere.


In San Francisco, I died with envy when I went into Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table and here in Chelsea Market, Bowery Kitchen Supply had everything. I'd be happy just to spend an afternoon in this store.


Then we went to The Lobster Place, a huge seafood supermarket and 'restaurant'. You pick the seafood you want and they cook (boil, mainly) them for you. There's also a large sushi section. Amazing place.










Lobster at USD14.50 per lb is pricier than other places (Chinatown is cheapest. You can get 2 medium-sized lobsters for USD20 or one for USD12, cooked) and I picked a monster that was about 3 lbs but my daughter protested and we had to settle for a smaller one, about USD31 which means it was a little more than 2 lbs. Which was good, because the two of us couldn't finish it.


I prefer the clams to the oysters. The oysters were small and not plump but the clams were crunchy and very sweet.




The lobster was served with melted butter. Truly one of the world's best meat to eat, the claws tasted of big crabs and the body like big prawns.

Even the 'mustard' was yummy--creamy and flavorful.


Washed down with root beer, this was one of my favorite meals.


Since our apartment was nearby, we dropped all our shopping including groceries and went out again to paint New York. One night we found the mozz and prosciutto in the fridge and made a tasty midnight snack of them, together with leftover Korean kalbi steak from a restaurant.